On or about December 20, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will likely update its Hospital Compare website with new star ratings and release the list of hospitals receiving Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) penalties for fiscal year (FY) 2018. Corrections to the star ratings calculations likely mean that significantly fewer hospitals will receive a three-star rating this year than last. As a result, many more hospitals will receive four or five stars, while additional hospitals will receive one or two-star ratings. In the past, release of the HAC payment penalty list and the star ratings have generated media attention.

AHA released a Quality Advisory yesterday to help organizations prepare for the public release of the star ratings and...